Arthur Hugh Clough
(1819‑1861)
During his early career at Oxford, A. M. Clough was influenced by the thought and poetry of Wordsworth. Family financial problems forced him to drop out of Oxford in 1847. He has come to be noted for his religious doubt and frustration and for that reason his later verse is linked with the poetry of the early Matthew Arnold. It is thought that the influence of Carlyle, who taught that man should clear his mind of pretense and insincerity, led to Clough’s later poetic views.
The Latest
Decalogue (1862)
Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshiped, except the currency.
Swear not at all; for, for thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse.
At church on Sunday to attend
Will serve to keep the world thy friend.
Honor thy parents; that is, all
From whom advancement may befall.
Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive
Officiously to keep alive.
Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it.
Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
When it’s so lucrative to cheat.
Bear not false witness; let the lie
Have time on its own wings to fly.
Thou shalt not covet, but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.
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In A Lecture Room (1840, 1849)
Away, haunt thou not me,
Thou vain Philosophy!
Little hast thou bestead,
Save to perplex the head.
And leave the spirit dead.
Unto thy broken cisterns wherefore go,
While from the secret treasure‑depths below,
Fed by the skyey shower.
And clouds that sink and rest on hilltops high.
Wisdom at once, and Power,
Are welling, bubbling forth, unseen, incessantly
Why labor at the dull mechanic oar,
When the fresh breeze is blowing,
And the strong current flowing.
Right onward to the Eternal Shore?
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Whate’er you dream, with doubt possessed,
Keep, keep it snug within your breast,
And lay you down and take your rest;
Forget in sleep the doubt and pain.
And when you wake, to work again.
The wind it blows, the vessel goes,
And where and whither, no one knows.
‘Twill all be well‑no need of care;
Though how it will, and when, and where,
We cannot see, and can’t declare.
In spite of dreams, in spite of thought,
‘Tis not in vain, and not for naught.
The wind it blows, the ship it goes,
Though where and whither, no one knows.
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With Whom Is No Variableness, Neither Shadow of Turning (1862)
It fortifies my soul to know
That, though I perish, Truth is so;
That, howsoe’er I stray and range,
Whate’er I do, Thou dost not change.
I steadier step when I recall
That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.
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The Questioning Spirit (1844, 1849)
The human spirits saw I on a day,
Sitting and looking each a different way;
And hardly tasking, subtly questioning,
Another spirit went around the ring
To each and each: and as he ceased his say,
Each after each. I heard them singly sing,
Some queruiously high, some softly, sadly low.
We know not – what avails to know?
We know not – wherefore need we know?
This answer gave they still unto his suing,
We know not, let us do as we are doing.
Dost thou not know that these things only seem?
I know not, let me dream my dream.
Are dust and ashes fit to make a treasure?
I know not, let me take my pleasure.
What shall avail the knowledge thou hast
sought? –
I know not, let me think my thought.
What is the end of strife? –
I know not, let me live my life.
How many days or e’er thou mean’st to
move? –
I know not, let me love my love.
Were not things old once new? –
I know not, let me do as others do.
And when the rest were overpassed.
I know not, I will do my duty, said the last.
Thy duty do? rejoined the voice,
Ah, do it, do it, and rejoice;
But shalt thou then, when all is done,
Enjoy a love, embrace a beauty
Like these, that may be seen and won
In life, whose course will then be run;
Or wilt thou be where there is none?
I know not, I will do my duty.
And taking up the word around, above, below,
Some querulously high, some softly, sadly low,
We know not, sang they all, nor ever need we
know;
We know not, sang they, what avails to know?
Whereat the questioning spirit, some short space,
Though unabashed, stood quiet in his place.
But as the echoing chorus died away
And to their dreams the rest returned apace,
By the one spirit I saw him kneeling low,
And in a silvery whisper heard him say;
Truly, thou know’st not, and thou need’st not
know;
Hope only, hope thou, and believe alway;
I also know not, and I need not know,
Only with questioning pass I to and fro,
Perplexing these that sleep, and in their folly
Inbreeding doubt and skeptic melancholy;
Till that, their dreams deserting, they with me
Come all to this true ignorance and thee.
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